MY LOVELY BLOG

January. The month of insane resolutions, dark bleary eyed mornings, and accidental binging on the leftover Cheeslets and Roses in the cupboard.

I went to an interesting workshop this week all about creating healthy habits rather than setting resolutions, as habits are easier to keep if you build them into existing habits. Over 12 weeks you add habits starting with some simple ones – drink at least 500ml of water 10 minutes before each meal; building in complexity including having a 10 minute mental power down when you get home from work; to having 10 minutes of sunlight every morning; eventually covering your mind body and soul.

One of the key points of discussion was the “5 a day rule” which apparently is no where near enough! Our Aussie comrades have been chomping through 10 a day for sometime now knowing the health benefits this brings. Those countries who eat a largely plant based diet live the longest as it’s possible to get all the nutrients we need from fruit, veg and legumes.

So the challenge for week 3 is to eat your 5 a day first thing in the morning to give the body what it needs…and as I don’t have a juicer it’ll be weird-combos-ahoy for me! Then it’s just the extra 5 I need to find from somewhere…

…And as someone who lives with a non-veggie, I’m always thinking about ways to secretly sell him the vegetarian life. I think this weeks recipe might help my cause and BONUS – get us closer to that 10.

INGREDIENTS

Whole cauliflower

1 tbsn sumac

1 tbsn garlic powder

1 tbsn paprika

2 tbsn tahini

2 tbsn olive oil

THE FREEKEH

250g freekeh (we got the fancy merchant gourmet micro ones)

100g pomegranate seeds

30g parsley

15g mint

Juice of half a lemon

2 tbsn olive oil

FOR SERVING

Leafy veg (spinach)

Squeeze of lemon

Toasted seeds

Crispy onions (optional)

Humus (optional)

METHOD
peel off most of the leaves of the cauliflower and wash. There are two reasons for this – 1 to clean it, the other because it’ll stick your spices on! Mix the sumac, garlic and paprika together and stick in a preheated oven at 220 degrees.

After 30 minutes drizzle your olive oil and tahini over the cauliflower and pop it back in the oven for a further 15.

In the meantime, crack on with you freekeh. Finely chop your parsley and mint together and add to a bowl along with the pomegranate, lemon and olive oil. Heat up your freekeh and add to the bowl.

For serving, plate up your leafy greens of choice (we steamed some spinach); the rice, and then either present the cauliflower whole or add florets to the top of the rice salad. To add some fancy flourish, I also threw on some seeds, a few crispy onions, another squeeze of lemon and some humus ( not homemade this time ).